New scope for my .308

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ks_wayward_son

New member
Since its Black Friday time, I'm trying to make a decision between two scopes to put on top of Remington 700p in .308. The two choices so far are the Bushnell Elite Tactical DMR II from Midway:

https://www.midwayusa.com/product/1020586712

Or Athlon Cronus BTR from Cameraland:

https://cameralandny.com/shop/athlo...9afa-0135-d0da-00163e90e196?variation=1631358

Cronus has extra magnification which is nice, but many claim the Bushnell is excellent glass as well. Both have illumination. Haven't had the chance to look through either, but both are Japanese made and potentially from the same factory in Japan.
 
That's a tough call. The Bushnell has b en around for amlong time and has proven itself. I don't really know anything about the Athlon scopes
 
Both are in the higher range of performance
Both have 34mm tubes
Both come from reputable vendors
Both have lifetime warranties
The Athlon has about 40% more magnification but a similar higher price
SnipersHide say both track very well
So to me it gets down to which reticle do you like better, if the money isn’t a key factor.
But if both reticles work for you, I’d go with the Athlon
 
I can certainly vouch for the Bushnell as I have used them for 30 years. Great build quality and superb optics. With that said, I’m sure there’s many great options available.



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Note: I am a scope snob. If it's not over 1500 bucks I usually don't like it much. There are, though, notable exceptions.

Now then. I've played a decent bit with both. I was actually really impressed by the Cronus. Tracking was spot on, glass quality was good, feature set was good for the money, turret feel was nice. It was easily on par with the Bushnell or any 1500 dollar scope.

I personally prefer the turret feel of the Bushnell but neither are bad at all. Given the savings available on the Bushy right now, that's a big feather on that side of the equation.

So let's sum up what we've got: They're of the same quality. Both are ~6x magnification range. The Bushnell with the reticle it's got is almost unusable at 3.5x while much above 25x where the Cronus is biased to is starting to be too much magnification for anything but extremely specialized use cases.

So, we've got directly comparable scopes, one of which is not useful at its lowest magnification and the other which is not very useful at its top magnification. People seem less likely to under-dial magnification as they are to over dial it so between that and the cost savings and quality parity... Bushnell wins. If you buy the Cronus, you still win though.
 
The Cronus is a much better overall scope than the outdated Bushnell. While the Bushy is a great scope, I'd buy the Cronus BTR without even thinking about it.

I've got an original Cronus, it doesn't lag too far behind any of my scopes that cost 2.5 - 3 times as much. The only area that could be improved is the turret feel, it's not bad, but it's not as good as my higher priced optics.
 
"...extra magnification which is nice..." Not always. The higher the magnification, the smaller the FOV. The Cronus' is 3.83 feet at 100 yards on 29X. Five feet for the Bushnell on 21X. Both of 'em weigh a bit over 2 pounds. OK for a target rifle, but too heavy for hunting.
The whole thing depends on what you're planning on doing with it.
Bushnell's QC has gone down since Vista Outdoors got 'em too.
 
Thanks for the input fellows. Yep, it won't be a hunting rig. Purely for precision. Whatever I choose (actually leaning toward the Bushnell right now) I am also needing to decide on some rings.

With no more than the .308 is going to recoil, I have been looking at the MDT Premier. Around 100.00 so not Chinese junk, but not as high as Seekins or Vortex Precision. Looks like a decent middle ground. Any experience with these?
 
Apologies for continually rehashing, but there is "H"DMR for 900.00 also.

https://www.midwayusa.com/product/1020586818?pid=567822

Would this be 100.00 better than the standard DMR @799? If so, I could definitely cough up the extra couple Benjamins. Is this supposedly a higher definition model?

ETA: Nevermind, looked at it a little closer and it has the H59 reticle. Think I would prefer the G3.
 
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T. O'Heir said:
"...extra magnification which is nice..." Not always. The higher the magnification, the smaller the FOV. The Cronus' is 3.83 feet at 100 yards on 29X. Five feet for the Bushnell on 21X. Both of 'em weigh a bit over 2 pounds. OK for a target rifle, but too heavy for hunting.
The whole thing depends on what you're planning on doing with it.
Bushnell's QC has gone down since Vista Outdoors got 'em too.
Click to expand...
Scope weight never was a problem for me. Most of the scopes I own weigh 34 - 46 ounces.
If you can't carry an extra pound or two, you might need to exercise more.
 
ks_wayward_son said:
Thanks for the input fellows. Yep, it won't be a hunting rig. Purely for precision. Whatever I choose (actually leaning toward the Bushnell right now) I am also needing to decide on some rings.

With no more than the .308 is going to recoil, I have been looking at the MDT Premier. Around 100.00 so not Chinese junk, but not as high as Seekins or Vortex Precision. Looks like a decent middle ground. Any experience with these?
Click to expand...
The Bushy is a good scope, but the Athlon is what I'd choose. It's well worth the extra money if you can do it.

I can't help you on cheaper rings, I use ARC M10 rings on all of mine. They run $180 a pair.
 
It would be a close race if the cronus was a Gen one but its a Gen 2 and many of the small issues were fixed. The glass is pretty amazing and tracking is good on both. I would lean toward the Gen 2 Cronus. The price on the Bushnell is definitely a wrench in the choicemetrics....
 
The Cronus. Really they are not closely comparable. The Bushnell is a great $750-$900 scope. The Cronus is more of a $1600 scope. The Cronus adds extended magnification range albeit not sure if I need to get to 30x, but I do like 25x.

The Cronus adds ED glass and an even better reticle. ED glass alone isn’t the end all be all, but it significantly improves chromatic aberration. In addition, it is just part of next level optical system.
 
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